The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, November 19, 2012 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, November 19, 2012 - 5A
DENARD
From Page 1A
in the shotgun, too.
Running back. Receiver. Quar-
terback. Borges utilized Rob-
inson on screens, end arounds,
options, even a double reverse
at one point. Keeping track of
where he was on the field was
exhausting.
Of course, I don't mean to
dumb down the playbook, but the
essence of it was simply to get Rob-
inson in space and let him do what
he does best: make people miss.
On the last play of the first
quarter, Robinson took a handoff
moving left, broke contain and
raced up the sideline. Fifteen
yards ahead, Hawkeye safety
Tanner Miller rushed over to
force him out of bounds - Rob-
inson took one jab step toward
the middle of the field, faking a
cut back inside and Miller was
caught on his heels. Robinson
blew by down the sideline for
another 25 yards.
And the brilliance of Satur-
day's playbook was that even
though Robinson was the focal
point, he wasn't, and didn't need
to be, the star.
Gardner finished the game
18-of-23 passing for 314 yards
TWITTER
From Page 1A
laughs from the audience.
MacKie-Mason explained
how Costolo began his work
with the Internet in 1996, ulti-
mately creating three compa-
nies. Costolo sold one company,
FeedBurner, to Google for $100
million in 2007. In 2009, Costolo
joined with Twitter as COO and
became CEO one year later.
The core of Costolo's presen-
tation discussed Twitter's ability
to reinvent the agora, a reference
to the ancient Greek meeting
place where citizens could gath-
er to discuss the latest politics
and news in their community.
Costolo described the ben-
efits of the Greek agora in creat-
ing functional discourse within
communities.
"It was multidirectional, it
wasn't someone standing on a
stage as I am with you dictat-
ing, so it was a conversation and
a real dialogue," Costolo said. "It
was unfiltered. The news was not
interpreted and written down
and handed to people. And it was
real time, you were hearing what
real people were talking about
right there with each other."
Costolo went on to chronicle
how the advent of radio and tele-
vision created a form ofdiscourse
that was "outside-in," removing
the ability for viewers to provide
their voice in the media.
"The fascinating thing about
these new technologies is they all
start out with the idea that they
are going to be multidirectional,
and we even get the illusion ...
with things like talk radio," Cos-
tolo said. "But of course, it really
is an illusion because there is an
editor who gets to call in ... and
we're only listening to the kinds
of conversation that come in from
people that agree with us."
Costolo said Twitter is help-
ing bring back multidirectional
forms of media.
"Along comes Twitter, and
Twitter re-invents the agora,"
Costolo said. "We once again start
to see multiple perspectives on
a particular news story or event
that's happening. We once again
start to have a shared experience
across the globe about what's
happening and what we're view-
ing now. We once again get an
unfiltered perspective of what's
happening. But, at the same time,
it complements all these tradi-
tional forms of broadcast media."
Cliff Martin, meeting and spe-
cial events planner at the Public
Policy School, said both schools
wanted to bring Costolo to speak
as Twitter becomes more impor-
tant in the world of policy and
news.
"(Costolo) certainly has ties to
the University so that's a draw,
but... (Twitter) is becoming a tool
that is increasingly useful in dis-
seminating policy information
and people's reactions," Mar-
tin said. "As we saw in the Arab
Spring, the response to Hurricane
Sandy, the way that the govern-
and three touchdowns, not
to mention his three rushing
touchdowns. He had tremendous
pocket presence and his throws.
were on point.
But Denard, who rushed
for 98 yards and picked up 24
more through the air on two
receptions, still gets some of
the credit there. Because even
when Denard isn't doing things
in the just-let-Denard-do-things
offense, the defense is preoccu-
pied with him.
In the final minute of the first
half, Michigan was driving just
inside the Iowa red zone. Gard-
ner was under center and Rob-
inson and senior running back
Vincent Smith were both lined
up in the full-house backfield.
Gardner faked the handoff to
Robinson, who ran right and took
the defense with him to that side
of the field. Smith, who-started
right, slipped back to the left side
of the field with blockers, and
Gardner hit him with the throw-
back screen..
There was a reason Smith
was able to practically walk into
the end zone. Robinson is that
distracting of a presence. After
the game, Gardner marveled at
how well the same play worked
in practice, when defensive end
Frank Clark shouted that he
knew what was coming and actu-
ally had no idea.
But perhaps the true genius of
this playbook was the fact that
Hoke, Borges and Co. broke it
out just a week before the Ohio
State game. Suddenly, an inactive
Denard Robinson is very much
active, and getting ready for that
will chew up much of the Buck-
eyes' game planning this week
(Robinson is distracting even
when it isn't Saturday).
Obviously I don't have the
football mind that Urban Meyer
possesses, but if I had to watch
film of Michigan this week and
develop a defense that could stop
the just-let-Denard-do-things
offense, I'd be scratching my
head.
Not surprisingly, Hoke denies
the implication that that played
any role in deploying the new
playbook this week. He just
wanted to give Michigan its best
chance to beat Iowa, yadda yadda
yadda.
Hoke is a bit too sly for me to
buy that. Regardless, Ohio State
lingers, and Michigan's new
playbook is a doozy. Just ask
fifth-year senior safety Jordan
Kovacs, who after the game said
that he's just happy he doesn't
have to play against Robinson in
this new offense on Saturdays.
Economic recovery
focus of conference
At 60th annual
event, experts
discuss financial
growth
By AUSTEN HUFFORD
Daily StaffReporter
The future is looking a little
less grim for students entering
the job market in the coming
years.
At the University's 60th
annual Economic Outlook
Conference on Thursday and
Friday, economists of the Uni-
versity's Research Seminar in
Quantitative Economics - a
unit in the Department of Eco-
nomics that forecasts state and
nation economic outlooks-
predicted moderate economic
growth and increased employ-
ment gains for Michigan and
the United States through 2014.
The two-day conference,
held in Rackham Amphitheatre,
revealed RSQE's predictions for
the state and national econo-
mies to attendees. Speakers
discussed a variety of economic
topics, such as the auto indus-
try, the European debt crisis,
national mortgage trends and a
possible Midwest labor short-
age.
RSQE director George Ful-
ton, who presented the Michi-
gan forecast, said the short-term
recovery is promising, but it has
not made up for long-termlosses
that started in 2000.
"It's not hard to feel upbeat
about the Michigan economy,"
Fulton said. "We are nearly
three years into a solid econom-
ic recovery after almost a full
decade of recession. The funda-
mentals seem to be in place for
the economy to keep expand-
ing."
Still, Fulton added that only
one-fifth of jobs lost since 2000
have been recovered and that
the salaries of Michigan's work-
ers are becoming less competi-
tive.
"It's a long haul to crawl out
of a deep hole but at least we
have stopped digging in deep-
er," Fulton said.
According to RSQE, national
and state unemployment rates
are expected to decline through
the end of 2014, which could
bode well for students seeking
employment post-graduation.
Michigan's unemployment
rate is expected to drop to eight
percent by 2014,a decrease from
9.1 percent in October 2012, and
job creation is expected to result
in about 49,000 new Michigan
jobs by 2013.
RSQE predicted a national
unemployment rate of 7.4 per-
cent at the end of 2014, com-
pared to 7.9 percent in October
2012. In 2013, the number of
people employed is predicted
to reach its pre-recession peak.
In addition to unemploy-
ment rate predictions, RSQE
assessed the state of the coun-
try's real Gross Domestic Prod-
uct - a measure of economic
output estimating the value
of all goods and services in
a country. RSQE predicted a
2-percent growth in real GDP
for 2013 and a growth of 2.6
percent for 2014, the highest
increase since 2010.
Richard Curtin - the direc-
tor of the University's Con-
sumer Sentiment Survey, a
monthly study that numerically
represents consumer attitudes
toward the market and prod-
ucts - said consumers have a
positive outlook on the future
of the economy despite nega-
tive economic indicators such
as high unemployment rates.
The Consumer Sentiment Sur-
vey is re-approaching long-
term averages for consumer
satisfaction with the economy.
"Wall Street and folks inside
the -Beltway just don't believe
that consumers can be so opti-
mistic, and consumers are quite
optimistic," Curtin said.
The conference also includ-
ed presentations from chief
economists at Freddie Mac,
Nationwide Mutual Insurance
and the Center for Automotive
Research and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, as well as
several University professors.
Fulton, who was primar-
ily responsible for organizing
the conference, said local and
regional members of govern-
ments, business people and
professors attended the confer-
ence to hear the predictions.
Fulton not-d that RSQE eco-
nomic predictions are not per-
fectly accurate because they
rely on assumptions, and when
some of those assumptions turn
out to be false, the final predic-
tions suffer. Still, Fulton said
the predictions are beneficial to
understanding the general eco-
nomic outlook.
"It's fairly accurate to say
that over the years we've done
a pretty good job," Fulton said.
"The question is not so much if
can you forecast things exactly,
because you can't, but the ques-
tion is can you become close
enough to be useful for thepeo-
ple that use it?"
ment is using Twitter to commu-
nicate within its own offices - it's
becoming still very much useful
in social aspects, but very impor-
tant in disseminating news and
information fast."
Costolo cited the use of
hashtags on television shows,
such as "The X-Factor," to aggre-
gate viewers around a certain
topic. On election night, Costolo
said more than 15,000 tweets per
second occurred over "extended
periods of time," showing how
Twitter acts as a complement to
television and current events.
"It's increasingly the case that
people realize that (Twitter) is
where the shared experience
happens while the broadcasters
are talking about or showing us
something else that's happening,"
Costolo said.
Costolo discussed the commu-
nication Twitter fosters between
"Very Important Tweeters" and
the ordinary citizen. He added
that conversations between peo-
ple in different spheres, like the
famous conversation between
Canadian rapper Drake and oil
tycoon T. Boone Pickens, could
not have occurred without Twit-
ter's agora.
"There's all this fascinating
change when the playing field is
completely leveled and everyone
speaks with the same volume and
the same access," Costolo said.
On a more serious note, Cos-
tolo discussed Twitter's global
relationship with governments
and policy, a topic at the forefront
of events such as the Arab Spring
and the current conflict between
Israel and Hamas.
Costolo showed a clip sampling
the mass amount of tweets sent
between Japan and other coun-
tries across the globe after the
March 2011 earthquake and tsu-
nami. He added thatcgovernments
plan to formally use Twitter as a
tool to help citizens in the event
of an emergency.
"Instantaneously, in the event
of a disaster, the government in
Japan has a mechanism they can
bring up on Twitter to communi-
cate with people and allow those
people to communicate with each
other," Costolo said. "Once we get
a good sense of how this is going
to work in Japan, we'll of course
take that capability around the
world. We've already got govern-
ments in the U.K. and Spain and
elsewhere wanting to leverage
that."
In Iran and China, Costo-
lo noted that the government
blocks Twitter. While he said
Twitter is not working to become
unblocked in Iran, it hopes the
service will b'e fully available in
China in the future. In regards to
the use of Twitter by Israel and
Hamas during the recent conflict
in Gaza, Costolo said there have
been no requests to remove any
tweets.
"As far as I know, we haven't
had any requests to take down
content there," Costolo said.
In an interview after the event,
Costolo discussed how Twitter is
evolving in order to keep up with
user inventions.
"The whole history of Twit-
ter is users invented the hashtag,
users invented '@' replies and the
'@' name, and we've improved
the technologies to support the
inventions that the users have
brought to the platform."
A new invention that Costolo
revealed is an archival system for
tweets. He told the audience that
by next year, users will be able to
download the "entire history of
your archived tweets."
LSA senior Carla Uhlarik, who
attended the event, said her own
use of Twitter brought her to
the presentation, and Costolo's
speech gave her new ideas for
using the platform.
"Twitter is used more as a
vis-a-vis medium for people. It's
more of a one-on-one interac-
tion," Uhlarik said. "(Costolo's
lecture) made me want to be
more proactive in the people I
follow. Maybe expandingbeyond
just NPR ... and branching to also
like celebrities, because it kind
of gives you a grander scope of
what is going on in the world."
LSA senior Wenjie Zhu, an
international student from
China, said he personally doesn't
use Twitter because he isn't
accustomed to having the oppor-
tunity.
"Honestly I just don't feel
accustomed to have a voice,
that's how I feel about it," Zhu
said.
School of Information gradu-
ate student Benjamin Olger said
before the lecture that he was
excited to hear what Costolo had
to say about his field of study.
"I'm studying human comput-
er interaction and I'd like to be a
user experience designer," Olger
said. "I'm not necessarily sold
on working on any particular
product, but it would definitely
be really cool to work on a social
media platform."
After his speech, Costolo
noted how new jobs in the mar-
ketplace will reflect the increas-
ing popularity of social media.
"(Social media) is only going
to grow ... and you're seeing the
emergence of all sorts of new
kinds of social platforms like
Instagram and Snapchat," Cos-
tolo said. "And as younger gener-
ations specifically are concerned
less and less about 'Well, I would
never share that information'
and they do it frictionlessly,
there will be more and more
social media companies, servic-
es, platforms and opportunities."
Costolo closed his lecture
by answering a question from
the audience: "What's the most
important piece of advice you've
ever received?"
"It only makes sense to do
what you want to do and what
you're passionate about, because
that will be how you end up at
a place where looking back, you
can connect the dots and see
you landed where you wanted to
land," Costolo said. "And I mean,
you're not going to hear from
anyone who that's more true
than from me."
LANDMARK
From Page 1A
lounge, theater room and fitness
center.
Gina Cowart - a representative
for American Campus Commu-
nities, the company that bought
the building from the original
contractor, Campus Acquisitions,
last month - said progress on the
remaining construction, while
visible, has been slow.
"Although we feel strides have
been made, we are disappointed
with the pace of their progress,"
Cowart said.
Though Campus Acquisitions
is responsible for completing the
construction they started, Cow-
art added that ACC has worked
to alleviate the woes of the build-
ing's residents, and gave each
resident a $500 Visa gift card as
a "goodwill gesture." Residents,
were also offered the opportunity
of takinga $500 rent reduction in
lieu of a gift card.
"We understand that our resi-
dents were also frustrated with
all the amenities not being com-
pleted at move-in," Cowartsaid.
All of the retail spaces on the
ground floor of the building have
been leased out and vendors are
working to build their own spaces
to accommodate individual needs,
Cowart said. Retailers such as
7-Eleven, World ofBeer, Tim Hor-
tons and No Thai! are expected to
open at the beginning of spring
term, which starts in May.
Other minor issues, includ-
ing broken toilet paper holders,
missing bed frames and mis-
matched windows, were fixed
by ACC shortly after move-
in, according to Art & Design
senior Erica Neumann, a Land-
mark resident. Despite the lack
of promised amenities, Neu-
mann and other students said
the building is still enjoyable.
"You could tell that it was
built in a rush," Neumann
said. "But nothing that really
changed the living experience
to the point where we weren't
enjoying ourselves. It was just
little things. We had to call
maintenance and they would
come up and fix it."
LSA junior Shaun Dass said
at move-in, only two of the four
elevators were working for the
approximately 600 residents,
creating a "madhouse." Despite
the challenges, Dass said ACC has
been cooperative in fixing prob-
lems as theyarise and now doesn't
wait more than five minutes for
an elevator. Though he said the
struggle of waiting for an eleva-
tor has been somewhatalleviated,
the building could benefit from
additional elevators.
Dass added it is frustrating
that the entertainment deck is not
accessible because even if it does
open soon, he most likely will not
use it because of the cold weather.
After the chaotic move-in,
LSA junior Manuj Rattan said
the building staff has worked
hard to fix issues and install
improvements.
"It was a little crazy the first
few weeks because stuff was
still being built," Rattan said.
"But now it's fine, everything's
settled in, everything's good."
LSA senior Matthew Blecker,
who also lives in Landmark, said
although he is disappointed that
the retail spaces on the ground
floor are still not ready, living in
Landmark has been pleasant.
"Out of the other options to
living on campus, I would still
probably choose Landmark,"
Blecker said.
LSA junior Ryan Fereydouni
said he is content with the liv-
ing situation in Landmark, and
feels his priorities have been
met, such as the quality of his
room and the convenient location.
He added that the amenities that
are finished, such as the gym, are
"unreal."
"Overall they've been pret-
ty accommodating," Ferey-
douni said, "but they definitely
shouldn't have crammed it in the
timethey did. Nextyear everyone
should move in there, I have no
complaints for that. Right now we
just got the shaft."
ART
From Page 1A
ing types and locations of public
art. The proposal would allow for
some smaller properties or sites
undergoing renovation to fall into
the category of possible locations
for public art installations.
CITY TO ENTER AGREE-
MENT WITH UNIVERSITY
FOR CONDUIT FACILITIES
The Council is also poised to
vote on an agreement with the
University's Board of Regents
that would grant the University
rights to lay wire in the ground
beneath the University-owned
Ronald McDonald houses on
Washington Heights Street near
the University Hospital.
The organization provides
housing for families who have
relatives undergoing treatment
at the University hospital. The
resolution, sponsored by Coun-
cilmember Higgins, requires
eight votes to pass. The Univer-
sity would have to pay the city for
"right-of-way" agreements on the
property.
COUNCILTO VOTE ON
FESTIFOOLS' USE OF CITY
STREETS
The Council will also discuss
a resolution to close down streets
and bagmetersforthe University-
sponsored FestiFools festival, an
annual street artevent held in the
spring.
The event, run by Lloyd Hall
Scholars Program art director
Mark Tucker, commemorates
public art with a parade of student-
created papier-mache puppets that
trot along Ann Arbor's streets.
The resolution is requesting
that Liberty Street - between
South Ashley Street and South
4th Avenue - and South Main
Street - between West Williams
and West Washington streets -be
closed offto traffic on April7,2013.
A resolution is also on the
agenda to close streets for Fool
Moon, a similar nighttime fes-
tival on April 5, 2013. For that
festival, which takes place from
dusk until midnight, Washing-
ton Street would be closed off
between 1st and Main streets,
and Ashley Street would be
closed between Washington
and Liberty streets.
i
LIKE THE DAILY ON FACEBOOK a